


Of Corset Hurts

by KXL (MissKXL)



Series: Trope Tuesday [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Crossdressing, Gen, M/M, the ship appears if you tilt your head and squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 21:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissKXL/pseuds/KXL
Summary: Shinichi and Kaito are both pretty much done with the situation, though for somewhat different reasons. Both reasons involve overly long dresses to some degree.





	Of Corset Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is named after the trope for this week's Trope Tuesday, which can be found [here](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OfCorsetHurts).  
> There will be more notes at the end, but for now, please enjoy.

Whoever the hell had decided that Tokyo’s highest social circle absolutely needed a Victorian-era ball was a new form of idiot, Shinichi decided.

There was no reason for it. There was no reason that the richest families in the city, who held galas and events every couple of weeks at the least, should have even thought of holding a several-day-long event where attendees were required to dress up in Western period clothing. And along that line, there was no reason why such an event would have been chosen to host an extravagant selection of paintings and jewels that weren’t even from the same century as the Victorian period. And along that line, there was no reason why Sonoko had decided that Shinichi simply had to attend, forcing Shinichi to scramble around town throwing together a haphazard costume because God forbid Sonoko actually tries to help him out after tossing him to the wolves, no, that’s what a good friend would do.

Ordinarily, he would’ve just refused, ignored her (annoyingly loud) complaints, and gone back to his life, no problem. But of course, because he wass Shinichi Kudou and Shinichi Kudou never caught a break in his life, Kaitou KID had chosen a certain necklace at the event as his latest target. And naturally, since Sonoko had already told Inspector Nakamori that Shinichi would be coming, he couldn’t very well back out. His pride as KID’s “favorite critic” was on the line.

Shinichi flashed his pass as the door and strode past the costumed guards, mentally sending them his condolences as he went. The poor guys had been given uniforms that looked incredibly stifling – one of them actually seemed like he was choking, if the darkening tinge in his cheeks was any indication. At least Shinichi had gotten lucky with his outfit; he’d managed to scrounge up a decent-looking tailcoat and thrown together some other items in his closet to make something passable. He’d even worn his white Conan-era bowtie that he almost never got to put on. 

He still felt a little haphazard, but looking around, most of the attendees didn’t fare much better. Shinichi sighed to himself. This is what happened when people with weird ideas and nothing else tried to roll with it. He leaned against the nearby wall and watched the crowd mill around for a little while. The doors to the gallery hadn’t opened yet, so everyone was just socializing, which was only ridiculous if one took a step back and realized that a half-dozen men were wearing powdered wigs.

“Kudou-kun!”

Shinichi sighed again and turned to face Inspector Nakamori, offering a wry half-smile. “Inspector,” he greeted the older man with the slightest dip of his head. Thankfully, the inspector had not chosen to wear a powdered wig, but the ascot still didn’t do much for him. “What’s the plan for today?”

Nakamori jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the crowd of people. “Knowing KID, he’ll be in disguise, planning his next move,” he growled. “But there’s not too much we can do unless we find him. The bureaucracy have got our hands tied.”

“Was…that a pun?”

“Eh? No. Listen, just keep an eye out for suspicious people, and if you think you’ve found KID, don’t hesitate to go in for the kill.” Nakamori stared Shinichi in the eyes an extra couple of seconds just to bore the point into his soul, then he turned and stalked off without a proper good-bye.

Just as well, because right then the doors to the gallery opened and the floodgates unleashed. Shinichi waited for a moment, allowing the first wave to struggle through the doors – really, you’d think someday the human race would learn that only so many people can fit through a limited space – and then he slipped into the throng of people, trying his best not to step on any dresses and get inside without knocking anyone over.

He almost succeeded. Right as the crowd started to thin, he bumped into a lady wearing one of the fuller-bodied dresses, and she tripped over her own skirt and pitched forward. Shinichi caught her around the waist just in time. He winced in sympathy as his fingers touched the corset.

“O-Oh!” The lady, wind knocked out of her, took a moment to recover before allowing Shinichi to help her back onto her feet. “Thank you, sir,” she told him with a feeble attempt at a curtsy.

Shinichi shook his head, wincing again as the lady’s face contorted while she tried to curtsy properly. “No, it was my fault,” he responded. “If I may, could I escort you around the gallery as an apology?”

“Oh? Are you quite sure?”

“It would be my honor.” Shinichi swept into a bow, allowing his natural smirk to surface just a bit. The lady laughed behind her hand and looped her arm around his in lieu of a formal response. 

They took their time perusing the gallery. Shinichi wasn’t too terribly intrigued by the paintings, but the woman on his arm seemed delighted by them, commenting on each and every one with the keen eye of a true art patron. Shinichi could almost laugh at the absurdity of the situation – two Japanese people, both dressed in poor Victorian clothing, walking around a gallery full of non-Victorian art pieces, while a crowd of other terrible cosplayers walked alongside them. 

And, of course, the most absurd bit…. “So,” Shinichi began as they turned a corner into a slightly emptier part of the gallery, “why a woman?”

“Hm?” The lady at his side blinked up at him, doe-eyed and perfectly innocent. “Whatever do you mean?”

“You could’ve easily come disguised as a man and saved yourself the trouble of wearing that,” elaborated Shinichi, gesturing with his free arm at his companion’s dress. “I mean, come on, you tripped. On your own dress. And you’re wearing a corset.”

The lady laughed behind her hand again, eyes closed and shoulders shaking. When the fit passed and her eyes opened again, the air around her was very slightly different; the person on Shinichi’s arm now was more confident and daring than the woman who had fallen into his arms. “Well,” Kaitou KID replied with the barest hint of his trademark grin, “women get more sympathy from cold-hearted critics.”

Shinichi snorted.

“When’d you figure it out?” The elusive, sarcastic tone of KID’s voice faded into one more closely resembling genuine curiosity. “I thought I’d done pretty well this time. Was it when we passed the painting of the ship?”

Shinichi snorted again. “No, it was when I stopped you from falling on your face. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Pretty sure I already thanked you, detective.”

“Whatever.”

“But if you figured it out then, how?”

Shinichi, in response, grabbed KID around the waist and tugged him closer. Overriding KID’s involuntary squeak, he answered, “Corset or not, it’s obvious that this is a man’s waist, not a woman’s.”

KID clicked his tongue and moved away from the detective again, and Shinichi graciously chose not to comment on the slight flush in KID’s face. “This is what I get for my perfectionism,” the thief groaned under his breath. 

Shinichi hummed. “To be fair, it’s nearly impossible to tell just from looking. Which in and of itself is pretty damn impressive.”

“Gee, thanks,” KID pouted.

“You’re entirely welcome. Do you want to check the jewelry exhibit now?”

“Please.”

Shinichi steered KID towards the jewelry exhibit and allowed him a moment to check out the necklace in question. The magician only needed a few minutes to memorize the layout of the room, Shinichi knew that, so as long as Nakamori didn’t come by –

“Kudou-kun!”

What was Shinichi thinking, really? Shinichi Kudou never caught a break. The detective plastered a smile to his face and nodded to the inspector as he came striding in. “Hello again,” he said to Nakamori. “Any luck?”

“No,” Nakamori grumbled. “It’s hard enough to find him when everyone looks normal, but when everyone else is in costume, too, it’s damn near impossible! You?”

Shinichi hummed and glanced back towards KID, who had just realized who had come into the room and was looking slightly anxious. “The only person I’ve really noticed is this young lady here,” Shinichi responded.

KID froze. Nakamori instantly sprung on “her.” “This one? You think she’s KID?”

“No, I didn’t say that.” Shinichi allowed himself a brief moment to save the mental picture of KID and Nakamori both glaring at him. What a life he led sometimes. “I thought she was looking a bit pale, but it seems that’s just from her corset.”

“Corset?” the inspector repeated dumbly. “What, the thing around the waist? What’s wrong with it?”

“Corsets were seen as fashionable because they forcibly tightened a woman’s waist to make her appear slimmer, but complications inevitably arose when ladies were forced to contort their bodies into unnatural shapes for long periods of time.” Shinichi stepped around Nakamori and placed a hand on KID’s waist for emphasis. KID squeaked again. “See? Even for short periods, wearing a corset causes a fair bit of pain. Breathing, for instance, is much more difficult.”

Nakamori, appeased, stepped back again. “So she’s not KID?” he asked, dejected.

“I highly doubt KID would want to subject himself to one of these anyway,” Shinichi replied wryly. “It’s much more likely that he’d come disguised as a man, not a woman.”

“Hm. I see. All right, then!” Nakamori spun on his heel and marched out of the room, clearly intent on searching every last man in attendance.

With that taken care of, Shinichi stepped back from KID, pleased. KID, however, was still glaring, and still red-faced. “I hate you sometimes,” he hissed.

“That’s a shame,” Shinichi replied with a grin, “because I was going to go over to my friend Kuroba’s house after this and help him with his magic tricks, but if he learns that you hate me, well….”

KID groaned and all but flopped onto Shinichi, forehead falling to the detective’s shoulder. “I take it back, you’re the best,” he mumbled in a much more Kaito-sounding voice. “And I’m done here, so let’s go now.”

“All right.”

“But we’re ordering a taxi and takeout, because I need to get out of this stupid thing as fast as I possibly can.”

“Agreed.” Shinichi glanced over Kaito with a single raised eyebrow. Kaito choked. “I’m impressed you’re still breathing, actually. Corsets are bad enough on female figures, let alone male.”

Kaito grumbled something under his breath, too low for Shinichi to catch. Shinichi chuckled and escorted his friend out of the room, arms looped together.

**Author's Note:**

> For those who many be wondering, in my head this takes place after Shinichi and Kaito have met and become allies/friends, but before they reach a first-name basis or before they enter a romantic relationship. I can tell you for sure that I didn't write Shinichi having any romantic feelings at this time, but as for Kaito.... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ (Is it breathlessness from love? Or from a fashionable death contraption? The world may never know.)  
> I always welcome constructive criticism, so please feel free.  
> You can find me at my tumblr, [kxlinthesky](http://kxlinthesky.tumblr.com/).  
> Thank you very much for reading!


End file.
